A True Ninja
by Booth's people
Summary: 27 pieces, lost to time. The memory of them faded and forgotten. However, hope still remains as last of the 27 seems to have found a bearer. Will a blonde haired ninja reunite the other 27? Or is there something more sinister waiting for the boy and rune?


**Chapter 1 - Passing On A Legacy**

Time was almost up.

He could feel it in his bones.

Trudging along the alley, a rag wearing man with long, unkempt, dark brown hair buckled and wobbled as his knees felt their strength leave them. However, clutching his arm in pain, he valiantly pressed on as he thought of only fulfilling his duty.

'_It can't disappear. I cannot allow myself to die here_,' he thought while eyeing the few stragglers that skirted about in the moonlight. '_Heir…I…I must find one_…' he winced as a dull pain began building in his arm.

'…_but who_?' he was suddenly laid low when a sharp pain tore through his left arm and cascaded into his chest. With that attack, all the strength in his frail old body left him as he fell to the ground on an abandoned strip of road. Watching the world blur for a second before his sight was refocused on the night sky he allowed a mournful sigh to escape his lip as it looked like no one was going to passing by anytime soon.

The stars above twinkled like glittering gems among a sea of black silk. "Damn it…I've failed," said the man as he stared at the stars above him and closed his eyes while commenting on the scene in front of him, '_They're so beautiful_…'

* * *

'_Is this the afterlife_?' thought the old man as he awoke to a strange sensation that could be compared to floating down a peaceful river, that is…until he felt something pulling him by his foot. Looking to see who was pulling at him, the man saw some sort of orange furred animal. '_Is this a dream_?' thought the man as he looked around and saw his surroundings blurring.

What was even more surprising was that he found that the animal could talk, since he could hear it complaining about 'crazy old men, and their sleeping habits' as it brought him into a forest. He dreamt that the animal had wrapped him in warm furs and even given him something like salty soup to drink…

The sound of a door closing suddenly jarred the man from his strange dreams. Looking around he realized that he was in an rundown, but well maintained, apartment. The funny thing was that their were several verdant plants hanging from the ceiling, perched on the windowsill, and resting in the corner of the room that he was in. '_A forest…_' the old man thought as he looked down expecting to be covered in bearskins and the like.

He was disappointed. Covering his old frame were several old comforters and sheets. And even the bed that he was laying on had seen better days judging from the ach that his back was giving him.

"Jiji, you're up?" rudely asked a young but very unique sounding voice. The voice was that of a young boy, but it also had a rawness that seemed to convey that he either used his voice too much or far too little.

Slowly turning his head the older man met a pair of innocent blue eyes that looked at him with a bit of worry, apprehension, and even some fear.

'_Why would he fear me_?' wondered the auburn haired man as he nodded affirmatively to the boy.

"Uh…I found you in the middle of the street last night," said the boy as he walked over to the window and opened it up, allowing a burst of fresh air into the stale room, "You scared me half to death. I thought you were dead, but…uh, I checked your heart…just like ji-chan taught me to…and I heard it still beating."

'_It wasn't my time_,' thought the man as his face took on a reflective expression. However, his expression was soured when his stomach seemed to do the talking for him with a deep rumble.

The little boy laughed as he turned his back on his invalid guest and said, "I though you might be hungry, so I prepared an extra bowl for you. Though…it might not be enough"

The elderly man was surprised by the boy generosity. By the look of things, the little blonde boy was probably living by himself with only the bare essentials to get him by. In other words, he was an orphan with no one to care for him.

Walking back into the room the boy held in his hands two steaming instant ramen bowls. The man chuckled out loud when he saw the bowls as he verified where the salty soup in his dream had come from.

"What's so funny?" asked the young kid as he set down the bowl in front of the old man and began wolfing down his food.

"Nothing," finally spoke the man in a deep gravelly voice as he took the boys proffered food and began eating with just as much gusto as his little caregiver.

When both of them had finished, the blonde took both bowls and threw them away as he walked back into the kitchen and put away his tea kettle. When the boy came back the old man was still astonished that the kid had enough strength to carry him into the apartment as well as wrap him up in these blankets.

Old eyes scanned the village outside the apartment as he thought about his mission and whether or not he was going to complete it. "So, ji-san? What happened last night?" asked the boy as it seemed that he found the silence between them uncomfortable.

A tick formed on the corner of the man's eye at being called 'old', but instead of dwelling on it he took a deep breath and began wondering whether he should answer the boy or not. One part of himself wanted to tell the boy the truth, there by removing a very heavy burden that sat on his shoulders. However, another part of him – one that was more logical and calculating – told him that the boy wasn't yet fully trustworthy yet. So, settling on a compromise the man decided on a lie of omission, "I came here looking for something."

"Really?" the blonde asked in a way that made him seemed interested in what the man was saying.

"Yes. I came looking for an apprentice of sorts," he lied as he turned his face away from the boy unable to stare into those innocent looking eyes. Just the way the kid took in every word, made him feel that much more guilty for lying to the boy.

"So you want someone who will learn under you?" repeated the blonde as he blinked his blue eyes owlishly at the man, "So then what do you do? Are you blacksmith? Carpenter? Writer? What about Samurai?" The child went on and on naming all the professions that he knew but the man never nodded his head at any of them.

Feeling that they were getting no where with this subject the older of the pair asked in a soft tone of voice that cause the boy to jump slightly, "Why do you live alone?"

The blonde eyes seemed to find the floor quite interesting, before he walked over to the windowsill and looked out at the village down below. The man watched as the blonde's eyes reflected a sadness and loneliness that most would have never expected a child to know. "That's just how it is," said the boy with a faint smile, "ever since I could remember, I have always live in this place by myself."

The old man frowned at the explanation, but he didn't push any further as he saw that these questions were actually stirring up some pain for the boy. "Can I ask you your name?" asked the man, watching as the boy looked at him strangely.

"Only if you tell me yours," said the boy happily, since this was the first person who seemed to actually want to know more about him.

"Matsubara Kochi," said the man as he straightened out the covers that kept him warm.

"Uzumaki Naruto," the boy replied after some fidgeting.

Understanding dawned on the older man's face when he heard the name. Not many people who deal with the ninja of the Fire Country were ignorant of the story of the Kyuubi no Kitsune and it's attack on the hidden village. In his dealings with the leaf-ninja Kochi had heard many a drunken story about the 'demon child' of Konoha.

Seeing a apprehensive and fearful look begin to cover the boy's face due to his silence, Kochi quickly laid those fears to rest when he smiled at the blonde, "It's a pleasure to meet you Uzumaki-san." Watching the fear and apprehension slowly disappeared from the child's eyes, the man could only shake his head in disappointment and sadness as he thought, '_How long have you suffered, child_?'

"Uh…yeah, same here," Naruto replied slowly smiling brightly as if testing out the other man's reaction. "Well," Naruto said the little boy as he grabbed several items, "I've got to get to class. Uh…it's fine if you wanna to stay. There are a couple of ramen bowls in the kitchen…help yourself. Uh…see you later!" With that said, the energetic boy walked out then locked his door.

As soon as the sounds of the boys sandals were in the distance, Kochi chuckled as he imagined the boy running his way to school only to make it just in the nick of time.

Now alone with his thoughts the man examined the room the boy lived in. Standing up and stretching out his legs he entered the kitchen and scrutinized the small amount of ramen bowls that he had in the cupboard. Opening the refrigerator was a harrowing experience, he was now convinced that some sort of life form was now taking residence in a container in the back of the appliance.

Walking back into the kid's bedroom he opened the closet to find that most of his clothes were in shambles and those that weren't were something of a fashion faux pas. "He probably likes the color orange," the man stated the obvious, as the only three articles of clothing that couldn't be labeled as 'rags' were the orange jump suits that hung silently in the mostly empty closet.

Suddenly feeling a dull ache building in his arm, Kochi was once again reminded that he had a duty to fulfill. Sitting back, hiss eyes caught a glare from an object on the boy's night stand. Shifting his weight he reached out and grasped an old picture frame. The picture was that of a pouting Naruto and the Sandaime Hokage, who was rubbing the boy's head in an affectionate manner. Allowing himself a brief smiled the older man asked of no one in particular, "Such a heavy burden…is he the right one?"

Kochi allowed himself to study the picture for several more minutes, as if it would answer his question. Snapping out of his stupor the man gently set down the picture frame before, standing up, "There is much to do and little time to do it."

* * *

"It's not much, but…" said an obese real estate salesman as he fanned himself with a folding fan, " for the price that is offered many would consider this place a steal." Wiping his brow and walked in-step with his client, a sickly looking man whose the name was Kochi. When they had first met this same sickly man had rambled off the specification of the house that he had wanted and had demanded one of the agents to show him such a house. It went without saying that the heavy set man had lost when the agents had drawn straws.

"And…" continued the man, "…it meets your specifications. The house is small, but it has a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. Most of the property had been converted into a scaled down training ground by the pervious owner."

"Hmmm…I'll take it," nodded Kochi, before turning his head to regard the salesman who was staring at him in suspicion.

"Sir are you sure? You haven't even…"

"I'm sure," Kochi replied while opening his side pouch and rummaging around. "How much does it cost? Can I pay it all right now?"

Confusion reigned supreme on the fat man's face, "Huh? What are you talking about, honored customer? I'm sure that when we make it back to the office we can set up a payment plan and even get you a loan, if it is needed."

"No," Kochi spoke calmly as he finally found what he was looking for and began pulling it out of the bag, "I don't have time filling out papers or requesting loans. I think I'll pay this in one installment, thank you very much."

"Urgh…" choked the fat man, his eyes bulging from their sockets and his mouth hanging open in pure shock. In the sickly man's hands was a beautiful plate of worked gold. The plate was a big as a hand and as thick as half a finger, however, that wasn't what was making the fat man sweat buckets. No, what was making the man so uncomfortable was the series of seals that adorned the front of the golden plate.

Royal seals.

The fat man's pudgy hands held, within them, a currency that was usually reserved for royalty and the extremely wealthy…especially since its worth totaled close to something like one million ryo!

"I expect all the paper work to be delivered to this address as fast as humanly possible. Also, I want the contract to the land and the deed to the house along with the paperwork. I don't want any follow ups or anyone knowing of this purchase. If you can do this for me the reminder of the money is yours to use…that should be more than enough for compensation, am I correct?"

The fat man sputtered once before setting off at top speed to finish the man's requests. As he was rushing through the streets he could help but thank kami-sama for making him such a loser at drawing straws.

* * *

Naruto walked up the stairs to his apartment, his shoulders slumped as he recalled his day in all its terribleness. Not only had he been late, but when he had tried to explain the situation to his teacher he found that Iruka had already been at his wits end with some of the other kids in the class and he wasn't in any sort of mood to listen to the blonde's excuse.

Because of his lateness, Iruka had assigned him extra laps for physical training. If his bad day had ended at that he would have been fine, but during lunch time he had accidentally ticked off several boys who pushed him into a just-passing-by Uchiha. Both the class genius and deadlast took a tumble and Sasuke actually ended cutting himself on a rock.

Thinking the Uchiha was going to start something, since it was his fault in the first place, Naruto was surprised when the boy stood up and began walking back to the Academy with so much as looking back. He wanted to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth. When he had gathered enough courage to apologize his moment was stolen as several vicious fangirls dumped their contents of their bentos on his head in retaliation for hurting their precious Sasuke-kun.

To made his day complete, the only place that could have lightened his mood was closed due to 'malfunctions with their stove'…or so Ayame nee-san had told him. Miserable and unable to have his usually 'ramen pick-me-up', the only place that was left for him to go was back to his apartment.

Walking up the steps Naruto noticed a piece of paper taped to the front of the door. Staring at the fluttering white sheet of paper, he plucked it off the wood and began reading it. A pair of blonde eyebrows disappeared in surprise as he read the content of the letter. Finishing the missive he blinked a couple of times in stunned silence before re-reading the paper to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

When he finished the second read through, Naruto picked up his bag and slowly walked back down the stairs of the apartment complex stopping at the landlord's apartment. Knocking twice he didn't have to wait long when a elderly gentleman opened the door.

"What?" the man asked in a terse manner as he didn't even spare a second glance at the boy who was at his front door.

Unlike the many other people of Konoha, Naruto's landlord was a person who at least seemed to at least acknowledge his existence. However, whenever they talked it seemed that the man was always in a rush to end their conversation and he never seemed to talk about anything except business.

"I'm moving out and I've come to leave the key off," Naruto said with a respectful bow before handing the man the warm piece of metal that he had kept with him for many years of his young life.

"Really? I didn't hear anything about this," the man said a he turned his head to regard Naruto from the corner of his eyes. "Maa, if that's how it is…" the landlord said as he grabbed a ledger off a nearby shelve, "…you're all paid up 'til the end of the month. You do know that if the apartment isn't in the same condition that you received it in I keep the security deposit, right?"

"Un," grunted Naruto as he nodded his head in understanding. Bowing once again the excited and energetic young boy ran down the street as he turned his head and yelled, "Ja, ne!" Leaving behind the old apartment and it memories, Naruto followed the papers instructions as he ran through the village with a grin that didn't seem to be quitting anytime soon.

On the last leg of the boy's race to see what was described in the letter he purposely slowed down as he walked a down a dirt road that lead into a forest. It only took a minute of walking before, Naruto could see something in the distance. Unable to wait any longer, the kid took off down the road and was greeted by the sight of a old concrete wall and a faded red gateway.

Passing under the gateway, signifying that he had entered a piece of property, Naruto was floored when his eyes fell upon the rather small traditional house that stood before him.

The dark woods that made up the house seemed to blend in nicely with the surrounding forest, and with forest green shingles Naruto bet that from overhead no one could make out the house from the surrounding forest.

Not wasting a single second the kid hurried into the house and began exploring, but only after he took off his shoes and placed them in their proper place. Seeing that most of the furniture was new Naruto could only smile in happiness as he took a small tour of the house. Finally making it to the back of the house Naruto spotted a familiar figure sitting in a rocking chair.

"Kochi-san!" yelled out the little boy in excitement, "Are you really serious!? Is it like you said in the letter!? Is this really all mine?"

The older man nodded his head as watched as the blonde raced off towards the training ground with a smile that seemed to warm the now cooling air. When Naruto disappeared, Kochi winced in pain as his chest contracted and he looked out at the boy who was now on he way back from his inspection of the training ground. '_Not much time left_,' thought the man as he slowly pulled off the blanket that was covering his lower extremities.

"This is so cool!" crowed Naruto.

"I'm glad," Kochi said with some difficulty. Naruto seemed to catch the pain that had leaked into the man's voice as the boy walked over to the man while asking if he was alright. "I'm sorry, Naruto!" said the older man as he arm shook violently and his eyes began to tear up. He was reaching his limit, his breath was becoming shallow and his eyesight seemed to be wavering. Holding out his right hand he gripped Naruto's hand tightly as he whispered, "If there was only someone else with such a pure heart, I would have burdened them with this responsibility. I'm sorry…"

Not knowing what was going on Naruto tried to remove his hand from the man's grip but was held tightly as the older man began to speak in a voice that was not his own.

"Beginning and end. Twin brothers. Fighting for all eternity they fracture and shatter into twenty-seven. Scattered among the stars. Memory faded, and forgotten by time…" said the man as he face became sad. Naruto's eyes widened as the old man's hand began to glow a brilliant golden color. From with in the bright light that shone from Kochi's hand Naruto saw a pattern appear.

"Siblings lost, a lonely star remains. Patiently it waits. For one day, twenty-seven shall become one again…"

Naruto cried out in shock as he suddenly felt a strange sensation slowly enter is body. It felt like chakra, but at the same time it was nothing like the energy that he and his classmates had been working will in the past month or so.

"I…pass it…on to you…Uzumaki Naruto," said Kochi as the light in the man's hand slowly began to fade, "Keep it safe…protect it…and try to understand your purpose." The glow from the old man's palm slowly flickered then disappeared as he whispered one last sentence, "…rune…of…truth…"

Kochi's body slumped forward releasing his hold on Naruto's hand. Not knowing what to do, Naruto tried to prop the old man back into his chair, but he watched in horror as the man, who he had save not more than a night ago, seemed to crumble into ash and vanish in the night wind. The feeling in the boy's legs seemed to disappear as he fell on his backside and stared at the rocking chair.

A warm throbbing, coming from his hand, caught Naruto's attention as he lifted it to eye level and saw a intricate pattern embedded on it's back. The pattern was shaped like a yin-yang symbol with once side being darker than the other, but that was the only resemblance that it held to the ancient symbol.

From what Naruto could make out, in the quickly dying light, the two halves seem to combine to make an 'eye-like' shape. Staring at the pattern, the young shinobi in training realized that one angle gave the impression of sadness and benevolence, while the other seemed to make the eye look angry or dismissive.

Taking one last look at the pattern on his hand and the rocking chair where Kochi once sat, Naruto rubbed his hand and decided that some sleep my help his frayed nerves. Walking into the house the blonde could help but replay the words that the old man had said before all this had started…

_If there was only someone else with such a pure heart, I would have burdened them with this responsibility. I'm sorry…_


End file.
